Further photographic adventures

My general tendency is to take macro shots of flowers and insects, sometimes pictures of birds in flight, and occasional action shots of my teen playing kayak polo. However, in February 2022 I got to go and see the Northern Lights up in Abisko, Sweden which gave me the challenge of trying astrophotography - a whole new adventure!

I have been more aware of trying to take a range of pictures - samples below include long exposure pictures (northern lights, torch writing), birds in flight and sitting still, action shots (kayak polo), landscapes, and some macro shots. I don't generally take pictures of people as I'm just not good at portraits; I think there's a real skill in getting interesting portrait shots, and I don't have it!

I love my proper camera, and do enjoy using it - but I'm also very aware of the advantages of my phone camera. While obviously it's nothing like the same quality, and doesn't have lots of settings I can change manually, it has the huge benefit of convenience! More recent phone versions have some more options than my rather aged iPhone 8, but the best phone camera I know of is on my teen's phone as she can change F stop and shutter speed manually. On occasions when switching between lenses is cumbersome or too time-consuming, it can be very helpful to just pull my phone out of my pocket and have its wide-angle lens immediately ready. Its macro capability too is useful to a point, although limited - where my 600mm lens will take super-detailed pictures of flowers, insects, or whatever, without requiring me to get too close, the phone needs me to get within a few inches of the target. Sometimes this is helpful; othertimes it's a real disadvantage. The key for me is knowing the limitations of each, and working with them rather than against them.

My teenager is much more inventive with her photography and has a knack for finding interesting angles and views for things; I'm rather more predictable and sedate, but enjoy trying to think about what will (or won't) make a good picture, and working out how to make the composition show what I want it to reflect.